Thursday Thriller, March 5, 2025

 Thursday Thriller
March 5, 2025

CELEBRATIONS

Our Culture Night was a great success! We had so much delicious food from different backgrounds and cultures to share. Nicole guided families through the Dot Activity, which focused on inclusion. Two of our amazing parents also brought a fantastic art project for everyone to participate in. We’ll have it out at lunch and tomorrow afternoon. If you'd like to be part of this tapestry, take a few therapeutic minutes to weave your section. Once it’s finished, we’ll hang it up for all to admire with a special plaque.

Nuts-n-Bolts

1. During Tuesday's Ad Council meeting, Steve Rhinehart, our WWPS Cybersecurity Coordinator, shared some eye-opening information. The details are truly surprising! Please take some time to review the slides – the amount of money districts are spending on ransom to recover information is staggering!

2.  Freshman 101 on Monday 1:00-3:30 for 8th grade students. 8th grade teachers, you will be traveling with your 5th period classes. Steve and Nicole M are leads on this. Here is the schedule.  

3.  Certificated Staff FYI: This was in an email from Christy Krutulis. I wanted to make sure you saw it. 

Each year we receive an email about the Ellison Education Grant. Here is a link to the overview page which highlights the foundation's intent to award grants between $1,000-$10,000 dollars for the 2025-26 school year. 

Need ideas for a grant? Here's the link to past recipients and their projects, which may inspire some ideas for you. 

Please see the attachment and below for more information.

Christy Krutulis

Executive Director of Teaching and Learning

Walla Walla Public Schools

(509) 526-6733 

"Developing Washington's most sought-after graduates"

4. The Garrison Scheduling Team will meet tomorrow during the half day. Our main objective is to finalize the bell schedule. Afterward, we’ll focus on building the full schedule. As you know, Nancy is retiring, and she has taught six math sections. Similar to last year’s science staffing, we’ll need to collaborate to determine how to cover all the sections. While we’ll do our best to place the right people in the right roles, it may not align with everyone’s preferences. However, by working together, we’ll make it happen!

5.Please be on the lookout for emails from Nicole, Stephanie, and Jazmin regarding "rolling" students for next year. For example, a student in Compressed 6/7 Math would likely roll up to Compressed 7/8. This will apply to all content areas .Elective teachers, you created short videos last year about your electives. If you'd like to keep the same video, that's great! If not, you're welcome to create a new one. Please coordinate with Jazmin and Stephanie.

6.  DATES for you CALENDAR:

     

     March 10th -Freshman 101 12:45-3:30

     OSPI Dual Language visits to both Middle Schools -GMS 1:00-2:25 

     March 17-18 8th grade Field Trip to Whitman Mission (2 groups)

     March 21st Activity Day

     March 25 and 26 7th grade to Fort WW, 9:30-11:00 and 12:00-1:30

     March 24-28 STAMP Testing

     March 26th -SBA Proctor Training for All

     March 31-April 4 6th and 7th grade registration in Science Classes

     March 20th 8th grade registration

     March 21st Choir Field Trip to Pasco

    May 19 Student Success Night

    May 29th  1:00-2:00  5th grade Step Up Day

    June 3rd 8th grade Recognition

7. Speed Dating Schedule for Tomorrow, March 7th, 1:00-2:20 Steve of the Union, 2:20-3:45 Teacher Directed 

8.  Accountable for Learning -The Beast That Keeps Growing – When assigning a student to AFL, please make sure to communicate directly with the student(s) and confirm the assignment. If the student completes the work, checks in with you, and receives your approval, please notify Babett that the student is cleared. The issue we’re encountering is that some students get your approval, but then don’t show up to AFL, which results in a 'skip' being recorded.

9.  Here is a link to our TENTATIVE second semester timeline-subject to change. :D 

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SOEMTHING to PONDER

There are times in life when everything feels like it’s going great, and other times when it feels like the stars just won’t align. This week has been one of those challenging weeks for me. I came across a couple of short podcasts that really resonated with me, and here are the key takeaways:

1. We all experience imposter syndrome at some point – questioning ourselves and wondering if we’re truly capable of doing the work we’re doing.
2. It’s essential to find your tribe. Identify the people in your inner circle who you can lean on when you're facing a tough season.

My hope for each of you is that when you’re in a season of fog and gloom, you don't have to go through it alone. Keep going, don’t give up! Reach out and lean on your tribe.

Hope you find a gold nugget in one or both of these podcasts. 

Episode 78: In this episode, Illinois Superintendent Mike Lubelfeld, shares his experiences in dealing with the trauma of COVID-19, the impact of non-person vs. in-person learning, and the challenges of scaling e-learning with limited resources - all amid a mass shooting in his community.  Mike opens up about how all of this took a toll on him both mentally and physically. 

Episode 77 In this episode, Jimmy is joined by teacher Nick Ferroni, who reminds us that there is no such thing as a perfect teacher. However, every teacher is great at something—and even greater when they stop comparing themselves to others.

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WORDS of WISDOM

May you drink something (school appropriate 😂) in the morning to make you feel like this before coming to work!